Apologies for my inexperience with the S9, but I want to use it for a lecture which includes a series of musical examples; I would like to be able to get it to play each example separately, stopping after each one, but going on to the next at the press of a button.

I've experimented with the shuffle options, and hoped that I'd got it right when I got the 'arrow against a wall' icon on the left and '1' on the right, but I can't find how to get the unit to move on to the next example in the sequence without my having to return to the filelist and tapping its title.

What would be the technique for achieving the above?

Also, how do I get it to play in sequence? I've named all the files with incrementing numbers as the 1st character (1concerto, 2symphony etc.), but the Cowon plays them in a seemingly random order.

Well your lecture is probably long gone by now, but you need to set repeat file off (rightarrow|Bar), set play mode to straight (parallel rightarrows), and as you said, set playback to 1 (file only). Then you need to go to Settings>Music>Skip interval>set to: Track. Now when you play your songs, they will stop at the end of each piece, but you will need to press FF (>>) to go to the next piece, then play to start that piece.

As an aside, I see little use for setting skip interval to anything but "Track", since you can still fast forward by holding down >>, or sliding the play cursor forward.

Also, remember you can use the A-B settings to repeat just a section of a piece.